And they also CHOSE their battles very carefully -- partly for that reason. MLK was always very careful to present himself as being part of the current society who just happened to be black, and was fighting for the right of himself and everyone like him to be TREATED that way. He didn't go to rallies dressed in the equivalent of street rapper clothes, he wore a suit, because fighting for the right to dress anyway you want under any circumstances wasn't the battle he was fighting.